Combine all of the ingredients in the bowl of your stand mixer. Knead with the dough hook until the dough is shiny and elastic. It won't be smooth because of the bits of orange and thyme mixed in, but the dough itself should be smooth and silky.

Or, if you're so inclined, mix in a bowl, then knead by hand. If you're hand-kneading, reserve some of the flour for dusting your work surface during kneading - you don't want to add more flour. Return the dough to the bowl when you're done kneading.

Cover the bowl and set aside in a warm place to rise until doubled, about an hour.

When the dough has risen, flour your work surface very lightly and turn out the dough. Divide into 12 equal pieces. For a tip on how to divide dough into thirds, look here.

Spray a 9x13 baking pan with baking spray. Or you can use a baking sheet lined with parchment or sprinkled with cornmeal. I like the 9x13 pan because I have one with a cover, which is convenient for rising. Heat the oven to 350 degrees.

Form each lump of dough into a ball and place them in the prepared baking pan. Cover with plastic wrap (see how that covered pan is handy?) and set aside in a warm spot to rise until doubled, about 30 minutes.

When the buns have risen, remove the cover and bake the buns at 350 degrees until nicely browned, about 25 minutes.

Remove the buns from the pan and let them cool completely on a rack.

*If you're using Red Star active dry yeast, you can mix it directly into the dough - the pellet size is small enough so it dissolves. If you're using a different brand that has larger-grained yeast, combine it with the water and let it sit for a few minutes to soften, before you continue with the mixing and kneading.

About #TwelveLoaves #TwelveLoaves is a monthly bread baking party created by Lora from Cake Duchess. #TwelveLoaves runs so smoothly thanks to the help of the lovely Renee from Magnolia Days and Heather from girlichef.

April's theme is oranges, following the gorgeous strawberry breads featured in March.

If you want to play along, choose a recipe that includes oranges in the recipe itself (not a jam that's alongside, for example). You can use oranges, orange marmalade, or orange zest in the dough or as a glaze, drizzle, or frosting. Whatever you bake, (yeasted, quick bread, crackers, muffins, braids, flatbreads, etc) have fun and let's have a delicious month of bread with oranges. Let's get baking!

Want more ORANGE? Check out these other lovely bloggers who participated this month:

If you’d like to add your bread to the collection with the Linky Tool, below, for this month, here’s what you need to do!

1. When you post your Twelve Loaves bread on your blog, make sure that you mention the Twelve Loaves challenge in your blog post; this helps us to get more members as well as share everyone's posts. Please make sure that your bread is inspired by the theme!

2. Please link your post to the linky tool at the bottom of my blog. It must be a bread baked to the Twelve Loaves theme.

3. Have your Twelve Loaves bread that you baked this April, 2014, and posted on your blog by April 30, 2014.

Cookbook author and food writer for Serious Eats, Whisk Magazine, and the Left Hand Valley Courier, among others. Columnist at American Recycler. Blogger at www.cookistry.com and reviews.cookistry.com.

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